Since the late 1980s, many people in Washington have been concerned about the hobo spider because it has been blamed as the cause of dermatologic wounds. We offer here a guide to help identify some medium-sized Washington spiders found in homes. However, keep in mind that without a microscope you may not be able to identify hobo spiders and may have to settle for determining that your spider is NOT a hobo spider.

This may be frustrating and not the goal you had in mind, however, quite often the question is not "What spider do I have?" but "Do I have a hobo spider?" You should be able to learn enough to eliminate many spiders from consideration without a microscope and sometimes with just the naked eye. Most people want a world with simple black/white answers but you must realize that there many shades of gray in between and this is the reality of spider identification.